


Ring Around the Rosie

by BloomingMiracle (Luna264)



Series: The Good Doctor of Wallachia [1]
Category: Castlevania (Cartoon)
Genre: Gen, This Is Why We Can't Have Nice Things, au where everything sucks even more somehow
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-03-20
Updated: 2020-03-20
Packaged: 2021-02-28 18:34:34
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Major Character Death
Chapters: 1
Words: 2,033
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/23221828
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Luna264/pseuds/BloomingMiracle
Summary: Lisa Tepes gets simultaneously more and less than she bargained for out of her life.It's not really pleasent.
Relationships: Alucard | Adrian Tepes | Arikado Genya & Lisa, Alucard | Adrian Tepes | Arikado Genya & Original Character(s), Lisa & Original Character(s)
Series: The Good Doctor of Wallachia [1]
Series URL: https://archiveofourown.org/series/1669636
Comments: 4
Kudos: 11





	Ring Around the Rosie

Lisa Tepes was not a superstitious woman, but she’d had an itch in the back of her mind since she’d moved into town to work as a doctor. A bad feeling, really, that didn’t go away.

Vlad didn’t understand it, really. All humans seemed anxious to him, and while he considered Lisa braver than most by a wide margin he knew she was still human.

“You could always pick a new town,” He told her. “Or become a traveling doctor, if that alleviates your worries.”

“These supplies don’t travel well,” She said. “I think I’ll stay right here.”

~*~*~*~

The year after she moved in, her son was born.

He was a surprise. She and Vlad had thought that vampires could not have children. Then again, Lisa supposed, _she_ wasn’t a vampire.

That seemed like the sort of thing that could matter.

“We’re _not_ naming him Fahrenheit.” Had she not been holding the baby, she would have crossed her arms.

“Why not?” Vlad asked, genuinely perplexed. “It’s a good name for a boy.”

Lisa looked at him neutrally.

“What about for a middle name?” He relented.

“Fine,” She said, her voice drifting into an amused sigh. “For a middle name. And for his first, how about… Adrian?”

“It’s perfect.”

~*~*~*~

The itch in Lisa’s mind did not acquiesce. In fact, if anything, it was worse.

Adrian was sensitive to the sun. He didn’t catch fire, like vampires did, but it still hurt him. She kept him indoors, during the day. Told the townspeople he had a long term illness.

“Nothing to do for him but let him rest,” She’d say when they asked, and she’d shake her head, and they’d shake theirs, too. “He’s a bright boy, always loves watching me work, but…”

The townspeople always made various noises of condolence, and went on with business none the wiser.

~*~*~*~

Years later, when Adrian was older, he’d remember what his mother had said whenever he asked why she’d treated the man who crossed his chest as she passed by in the market, or the woman who called her unsavory things in the same breath as she asked for medicine, or, or, or.

“Forgiveness is optional,” She said. “Kindness isn’t.”

~*~*~*~

Vlad stayed out of the way of the townspeople.

~*~*~*~

When Adrian was four or five, old enough to remember his father’s face, Lisa reminded her husband of his promise.

“You said you would travel the world, as men do,” She chided, mixing a tincture that would cure the cold of one of the local children. “You still haven’t done that, dear.”

“I would rather stay with you,” Vlad said, but he still packed his bags the next day and set off the following evening, promising to return when he understood humanity.

~*~*~*~

Lisa kept up with her work. Adrian stayed right beside her, more and more, watching what she did. He learned to read from the science books she kept.

Still, her mind itched.

~*~*~*~

It seemed like a regular night, when she had the dream. She’d put Adrian to bed, but of course he had crawled in with her because the lightning kept him up.

But she found herself standing over herself, looking down at the sleeping forms of herself and her son.

Something drew her downstairs, and there was a man there, lit as though by some unseen lamp. He looked so tired, and he clutched at his side like his very life depended on it.

“Are you hurt?” She asked. “Let me see.”

He shook his head, blond hair sticky with drying blood. “I don’t have much time,” He said. “And Sypha needs a turn after this, anyways. Please. Listen.”

“Sypha?” Lisa looked around, and saw no one else.

“ _Please_.”

“Sorry, continue.”

“My name is Alucard of Wallachia,” He said. “I speak to you from the future. You must—” He winced, clutching his side tighter for a moment. “You _must_ hide your supplies.”

“I can’t do that,” She said. “I need them. I need to teach my son—”

“The people here _cannot_ be able to see them,” Alucard insisted. “I can’t tell you why. Sypha and Hector say this will fry my brain if I’m too specific.”

“What are you talking about?” Lisa demanded.

“Please,” Alucard said, and he looked at her with her son’s eyes. “Please just— Do this. For me.”

Lisa looked at him for a long moment.

“Alright,” She whispered into the silent room. “I’ll do it.”

He smiled. It was a soft, tired expression. “Good,” He said. “I’m sorry I can’t help you more.”

“I don’t understand what you’re talking about,” She said. “Any of this, what are you—”

She sat up very suddenly in bed, in time with a loud crack of thunder.

Adrian whimpered beside her, a cold lump under the bedclothes.

“Talking about,” Lisa finished, voice barely above a whisper.

The room did not answer her.

She lay back down in bed, stroking her son’s hair and humming. Alucard’s hair had been the same color, she noted idly. What a strange coincidence.

~*~*~*~

“That boy’s new,” Lisa remarked to a neighbor as she was out shopping. “I didn’t hear about anyone moving to town.”

“Oh, neither have I,” The neighbor said. “Still, he’s been around. Stole from our Olivia’s stall the other day, I think, but who’s to feed him?”

“Forgiveness is optional,” Lisa said. The second half of the statement went unsaid, this time. But that second half was what she really meant. It always was.

Lisa approached the boy, stopping when he stepped away from her.

“Hello,” She said. “Are your parents around, young man?”

“Dead,” The boy said, surprisingly blasé about the whole thing. “What’s it to you?”

Lisa blinked. “My name is Lisa Tepes,” She tried. “I’m the doctor here. You could come to my table for lunch, if you’re hungry.”

The boy scoffed, but he followed her home. She talked to him all the way, about various asinine things, and the science behind a few of her medicines.

“Oh!” She said as she opened her door. “I forgot to ask your name!”

“Friedrich,” The boy said. “What’s for lunch?” 

~*~*~*~

Adrian didn’t like Friedrich very much. He couldn’t put his finger on why, but being six years old with vampiric senses gave him a very specific way of viewing the world, and he didn’t like Friedrich.

Maybe it was the sense of humor. Friedrich’s jokes, especially when Adrian’s mother wasn’t around, were almost gratuitously disgusting or threatening. He’d threatened several times to put Adrian out a window, but he was always joking. Or, so he said, anyways. Adrian didn’t think it sounded very much like a joke.

It wasn’t that he couldn’t have survived the fall. It was that Friedrich was of the opinion that he couldn’t.

Adrian didn’t tell his mother about the jokes, though. He wasn’t sure if she’d believe him, or chalk his dislike up to jealousy of her split attention like the neighbors did. So Friedrich ended up moving into the Tepes home.

When his mother _was_ home, Adrian was practically glued to her side. Part of it was the teaching; he enjoyed learning from her as she narrated the processes behind various medicines to him in a quiet, soothing voice. But part of it was that Friedrich was nicer when she was around.

Friedrich, for his part, collected a gaggle of other children to spend time with during the day as his time in town wore on. Originally, Adrian knew, he hadn’t intended to stay, but he seemed to have changed his mind.

Friedrich was also four years older than Adrian, a fact he used _constantly_ to bother the younger boy. Adrian didn’t like that about him, either.

~*~*~*~

“Wouldn’t it be better for Adrian to come outside sometimes?” Friedrich asked Lisa one day, as Adrian pressed himself further into his mother’s side.

“He needs his rest, Friedrich,” Lisa chided. “You know that.”

“He’s up and about anyways,” Friedrich protested. “And it’s not like swimming is hard, the river doesn’t flow _that_ quickly.”

Lisa stiffened, hand moving protectively to Adrian’s head. “You’re not taking Adrian to the river,” She said, voice uncharacteristically stern. “It’s too much for him.”

Friedrich made a few more token arguments, but he eventually relented and went outside. Then he waited around for a few minutes.

He knew how children thought, or at least he thought he did. He expected Adrian out after a few minutes, full of a naive determination to prove he was capable.

But Adrian didn’t come.

“Mama’s boy,” Friedrich muttered distastefully.

~*~*~*~

“You’re so _boring_ ,” Friedrich whined. “I thought it was impossible for someone to be as boring as you.”

Adrian didn’t look at him.

That was a mistake, he realized, as he felt hands at his back. Friedrich had finally made good on his threat.

Adrian fell, the sun hitting his skin like a wave of hot needles, and he hit the ground hard. He had never been in _so much pain_ before.

He pushed himself upright, wiping his eyes, and rushed back inside. He locked himself in Lisa’s medical lab in the basement until she got home, and rubbed burn cream into his skin while he waited.

~*~*~*~

Friedrich was a skillful liar. He did not get in trouble.

~*~*~*~

There were whispers in town, as time ticked by.

Doctor Tepes was _too_ skilled with tinctures, perhaps. No one should have been able to cure the cough that swept through town that one winter. No one should have been able to heal the burn the local smith got on his hand after a momentary distraction (and what _was_ he distracted by again? A mayfly? Or a demon?) so that he could continue his craft.

No one should have been able to keep a child as sickly as Adrian, who could not even go outside, alive for so long.

It had to be the devil's work.

But no one went to the bigger churches in bigger towns to get a good, old fashioned witch burning going. It wasn’t like they got sick or injured any _more_ than other towns. Lisa was just… _too_ good.

And she was such a kind woman, too, the older ladies reminded each other and their husbands. Taking in that Friedrich boy, when he had no one else to go to.

(Younger ladies whispered less savory things, about what might be in those medicines, and about why Lisa seemed to age so gracefully as time marched slowly on, and about _why_ Adrian might be sick in the first place…)

Eventually, though, it was Friedrich’s fault.

Twelve years old to Adrian’s eight, and beginning to plan around inheritance laws.

After all, any remaining possessions of burned witches went to the nearest church, and the church could be bargained with.

The man from the capital came in his holy vestments and took Lisa away, and Friedrich stood to the side of the precession.

His eyes widened in horror when the fire was lit (he’d wanted the house) but he did not yell.

Not like Lisa.

“Please!” She yelled. “My son, he--”

“That devilspawn is no one’s concern, whore,” One of the priests said.

“Adrian!” Lisa yelled desperately.

Even Friedrich had to admit that _that_ was a _little_ harsh.

They did not stay to watch the burning.

~*~*~*~

Adrian knew fire safety. Some of the medications his mother had made were put over heat in the process. Fire was always a risk.

So when the church was gone, he went to work.

An hour later, the house was, well…

It was in pretty bad shape, but it wasn’t on fire, and it was still upright. That was something.

Adrian was eight years old, but he wasn’t a fool. He would never be able to stop his mother’s burning. Maybe if he’d been older, but would he have been around to _know_ to stop it if he’d been older?

He could not travel swiftly, so he went to the basement. To his mother’s bookshelf, safe in the stone of the earth.

He had to learn how to repair a house.

~*~*~*~

Friedrich did not return with the news of Lisa’s execution. He did not return at all. Adrian couldn’t care about him enough to wonder where he’d gone.

**Author's Note:**

> This fic sprung... pretty much fully formed out of a dream I had a few nights ago. There's a whole plotline after this, vaguely, but I have multiple other fics going right now and this is the only part of this that blatantly refuses to go one a back burner (I hope) so... Yeah.
> 
> This is pretty much how the dream went? Obviously, it was a dream, so things were a little bit weird. Dream Friedrich had green hair and sunglasses. We're not doing that. Other than that it was pretty coherent. /Distressingly/ coherent. Freshly woken up me was not a fan.
> 
> This is going to be four parts, eventually. I really hope it lets me finish something else first.


End file.
